The holy Week is again the round the corner.  The people around the world are getting ready for long liturgical services with great zeal and fasting.  Why do we observe this ‘particular week’ with so much solemnity every year?  We all know its significance is solely because of its connection with the passion of Christ, the sum total of the traumas thatour Lord had to endure during his life on earth for a New World order. During this solemn season, we specifically commemorate and celebrate the episodes of those past events happened in the life of Christ,the incarnate. Liturgy is a recreated and reactivated reality. Every liturgy in the holy Orthodox Church is fashioned as a spiritual exercise for the edification of the faithful. The pious observance of the holy week gives us an opportunity to identify ourselves with the incarnation of Christ whereby we show our solidarity to hissalvific work and we are particularly bestowed with the vital energy for our ‘deification’.

The Passion Week service in the Orthodox Syrian Church is packed with a plethora of rites and rituals. Each rubric has its own meaning attached to the activity of   Christ on face of earth. The liturgy in the holy Church is the means of living along the life of Christ, to be precise, a re-living with the Lord or rather a participation in the life of Christ.   The Old Testament liturgies were the shadow of the Christ’s incarnation where as the New Testament liturgies are its reflection and continuation. Moreover, as the author of the epistle to the Hebrews said, itis the copy and shadow of what is in heaven (V 8:5).  In other words, it is a foretaste of eschatological life in heaven. Orthodox liturgy is as vast and as deep as an Ocean in terms of its theological meaning. The Orthodox liturgy involves symbolism.  We see both in Bible and in Liturgy, the spiritual realities are represented by means of many symbols.  No one could fathom the depths of it yet.   Nevertheless, let us glance through some of the symbolic activity that is being done during the holy week and prayerfully try to ponder over and meditate upon its meaning based on biblical references.

The Palm Sunday service: – The feast of Hosanna is the commemoration and celebration of the triumphal entry of the historical Jesus into the city of Jerusalem in 29 AD which happened to be the    prophetic fulfilment of Zachariah9 and Psalm 24.  The word ‘Hosanna’is an expression of adoration, praise and joy which has a meaning; “Save, We pray” . Hence, it can be said as a word of prayer and praise. A very meaningful servicecoupled with Holy Eucharist is done on the day as the order of liturgy. A service of the blessing of the ‘tender palm leaves’ and offering of flowers taken out from the products of the Nature is the speciality of the day.  This is in a way,an offering of the earth and its fullness to Godas isdemanded in Psalm 24:1. It is, in a sense, God’s   acceptance of the offerings from the faithful and His reciprocal love of giving it back as his blessed gift. This meaningful service speaks to us of the importance of eco-theology. Further, it reminds us of the relation that we ought to have with the nature (environment). Bible says that it was to cultivate and to guard the nature that man was placed on earth (Genesis 2:15). This festival of Hosanna is an auspicious occasion to rejoice in the Lord and to pray for the preservation of the vegetation on earth.

 Bible makes a picturesque reference on the carnivalesque entryof Jesus, the king and saviour, into the city of Jerusalem (Mat 21).The people gathered there to receive him began shouting the slogan “Hosanna”.They spread their clothing and branches from the tree on the pathways. In tandem with this historical event, we use the articles such as palm leaves and flowers for the procession around the church during the liturgy. By so doing, we join with the people who received Jesus on his kingly visit to the earthly city of Jerusalem. Further, in the book of Revelation 7:9,   we see a multitude of God’s people clad in white robes worshipping God and His lamb with palm leaves in their hands. Partaking in  the holy Eucharist  holding tender  palm leaves  inside  the holy Church on Palm Sunday gives  the faithful  a chance to join the heavenly hosts in worshipping  the King of kings and Lord of lords andby virtue of being  his bride is enabled to  foretaste  the felicity of being in the presence of  the Lord at the heavenly Jerusalem (Rev 19, 21).    The blessed leaves, after the holy service, are given out to the faithful for their healing and absolution from every curse as has been promised in Revelation 22:2-3. The Bible exhorts everyone to raise praises to God emphasising the importance of this celebration(Genesis 49:8-12,Zachariah 9:9-12,Isaiah 51:9-11,1John2:7-15,Romans 11:3-24,Psalm 118:24-29, 92:12-14, 8,80). The faithful takes home away the blessed leaves for their blessings. Thus, by partaking in the orthodox liturgy; one is able to experience the ecstasy of the worships of both past and future in the present time.

 Pesaha service: -The annual and elaborate   ‘Passover’feast of the people of Israel came into vogue in Old Testament period as their mode of  commemoration and celebration ofthe Passingover ofthe angel of destruction (Exodus 12:14).They celebrated this feast by sacrificing a lamb and eating of it.  The death of Christ on the mount Calvary, according to the holy Bible, was a new sacrifice of the Paschal Lamb replacing the old paschal lamb. (1 Corinthians 5:7). At the time of our Lord’s death on the Cross, the Jews were killing the paschal lamb in commemoration of the first Passover. Our Lord knowing that he would be sacrificed at the same time when the Jews would kill their paschal lamb instituted the New Testament Passover a day earlier. He took the leavened bread (lahamo) and fermented wine and said “This is my body…and this is my blood”. Thus, in the bloodless sacrifice of the holy Eucharist, the bloodshed sacrifice of the Old Testament Passover comes to an end. The changed bread and wine continue to give us the benefit of forgiveness from sins and the release from Captivity of Satan. The modern Passover meal, Holy Communion, is also a foretaste of the heavenly banquet as said in Revelation 19:17 and the participation in the eschatological worship in advance as narrated in Rev. 5:9ff.  By the participation the Pesaha service, we eat Christ, real the pascal lamb, who was sacrificed on the Cross at Calvary.

The Service on Good Friday: – On this most solemn day of commemoration of the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ, we bring alive those memories attached to the episodes of Christ’s life on earth, whereby we are prompted to acquire the self-emptying and all forgiving nature of the Lord. (Philippians 2:5ff, Luke 23:34)We are given an opportunity tobe at the foot of the Cross and stay tuned to the redeeming love and grace of God on its shadow, meditating upon the salvation made by God for the whole humanity just like St Mary and St John who were privileged to be there at the foot of the cross witnessing the most lugubrious and salubrious moment as is mentioned in John 19:25.

There are two processionsheld on the day. The first oneis the procession carrying the holy Cross on the right  shoulder of the celebrant priest around the Church is in line with Christ’sway of Cross to Mount Calvary.  When we do this procession, we travel in time-machine to that past event in history. We know that when Christ was bearing the Cross on his way, Simon the Cyrene wasblessed tohave joined incarrying theCross of Christ. (Luke 23:26-31). So also, on every Good Friday, we too are given a chance to partake in Christ’s economy of salvation. In Luke 23: 27, we read of a large number of people including wailing and weeping women following Jesus. They were bearing witness to this heart rending incident and were asked to weep for them and for their children.  By attending to this liturgy on Good Friday, we get a chance to escort him and to bear witness to Christ’s passion and to regret of our iniquities just as the women were asked to do.  Each time we make a sign of Cross during the liturgy, we get a sense of belonging to Christ and we,  ourselves, crucify all our self-indulgent passions, and desires for we are asked by St. Paul to do so. In Galatians 5:24, St. Paul says, “You cannot belong to Christ, unless you crucify all self-indulgent passions and desires”. By the performance of the holy service on this day, we are not crucifying Christ all over again in every year. It is not a repetition of that gloriousevent on the mount Calvary that has happened in history for the salvation of the whole world, but a continuation of it whichfetches to us the benefits of his doings, a great sacrifice that he offered for once and for all, in and through it.The veneration of the holy Cross and kneeling down before it and kissing on it is yet another ritual attached to this day’s rite. It is yet another chance for us to repent of our sins and to seek God’s mercy for our salvation.  This is in tandem with the repentant criminal who was crucified with Christ on his side.  By so doing, we become parts and heirs of the Kingdom of heaven.

The secondceremonial procession on the daygives us, by virtue of being his children and disciples,   a chance to participate in the burial service   of our Lord along with Joseph of Arimathea, and Nichodemus who gave Jesus decent burial.  A deep reading of the Bible reveals the fact that Mary of Bethany, and the Magi from the East toowere privileged to pre-pay homage to the Lordfor his burial(Mathew 2:11,John 12:7).The  offering of myrrh by the wise men from the east betokens of this truth. Myrrh was one of the articles used for embalming the dead body (John 19:39).  Since Christ is the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow (Hebrews 13:8), and he, being the pre-existent Word of God(John 1: 1-18,8: 58) and lives forever(Hebrews 7:25), transcends the time-space continuum to interact withand save all people of all time.  The ritualistic liturgy is the only realistic means by which we get the benefits of the sacrifice of Jesus which took place in history once and for all.  Another ritual on GoodFriday is the washing of the holy Cross, made of wood, and dipping its horns into the bitter water, the concoction. It is, in a sense, anempathic and vicarious way of joining Christin receiving the bitter juice that was given to him while on the Cross (Mat 27:34).

We see in the Exodus 14-15,that Moses, Aaron and the people of Israel crossing the Red Sea after having been released from the bondage of Pharaoh in Egypt. This crossing implies the Christian Baptism and their walking for threedays inthe desertpoints to the Christian life of sufferings. We see Moses throwing a “piece of wood” to the bitter water in Marah after saying a prayer. The water in Marah turns to be sweet and potable. People of God are seen getting a promise of healing from God following this event.    The using ofa piece of wood by Moses here wasa prophetic symbolism of the Cross of Christ, the universal saviour.   The bitter water served to the fasting faithful at the end of the service on the day can be said of as the merciful caring of God of his people today just as He cared His old people at Marah. Although the bitter juice tastes hard to drink, those who drink it in all faith, hope and love, will be able to imbibe the taste of spiritual flavour.   If we comply with the commandment of God,we will get everything that we need.  One who attends the holy service of the Church with all seriousness and sincerity would get what one needs in life.

After that, we see the people of Israel under the leadership of Moses coming to Elim where they camped by the side of 12springs and 70 palm trees. The twelve springs and 70 palm trees prefigure the 12 apostles and 70 evangelists of the New Testament Church respectively. (Ref:-Matthew 10 and Luke 10). Their arrival in Elim is indicative of the new and inexplicable experience of Christian Church with the risen Christ.

Gospel Saturday: –

The day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday is generally known as Gospel Saturday.   The holy Church began to observe this day as the day of commemoration of all the departed souls, in line with the going down of Christ into Hades after his crucifixion. Since Christ went to Hades to preach gospel to the departed souls there, it has its own place in the rites of the Church (1 Peter 3:19, 4:6).  By owning three days in the tomb, Jesus hallowed all the graves on earth and evacuated the Hades paving way for thedeparted souls there to the paradise. The Bible speaks clearly that God has been merciful  towards both living and the departed alike (Ruth 2:20). Since Christ’s redeeming mission includes even the departed souls, it is the Church’s responsibility to carry out the Lord’s mission for the salvation of all for and on His behalf in all humility, faith, hope and love. The HolyCommunion celebrated on this day gives us an opportunity to have a fellowship with all the departed souls gone before us and to intercede for them so that they may get grace from the Lord.  It is in a way, reaching out to the people of God on the other side of the veil of time.

The Easter Sunday: – ‘Easter’ is the most important feast for the people of Orthodoxy.Its importance is mainly because of the resurrection of Christ from the dead. It is in tune with the resurrection of Christ that the Church began observing Sunday as the New Sabbath day replacing the old Sabbath of Saturday. Lord Jesus rested on gospel Saturday in Hades fulfilling the old Sabbath as he did at the beginning of creation in his capacity as God, and began his new creation on the very nextday, 1^st or the 8^th in the cycle of week, providing new phase of life for humanity.  This is the reason why St. Paul said, “When one is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone and the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

As St. Paul said, “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith”
(I Corinthians 15:14.  This feast gives us an opportunity to confess with our mouth that Jesus is our Lord  and to believe   in our heart that He was indeedraised from the dead fulfilling the biblical verse of Romans 10:9 in our lives and reassuringof our salvation.   We all know that the risen Lord was seen appearing to many a people in various places and giving them all peace and Joy.

 The main attraction of the day is the holy Cross clad in red clothing symbolizing the victory of Christ over death and evil. Isaiah 63 and Revelation 19: 11ff speak of this symbolism.  Another main ritual attached to this feast is the elevation of the holy Cross and the blessing of the four directions, East, West, North and South. The biblical basis for this ritual is the Lords command to Abraham, “Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring for ever…Go walk through the length and breadth of the land for I am giving it to you”.(Genesis 13: 14ff)  By this ritual, God renews his covenant with us and we are given the whole world for the service of God as  stewards.By so doing, we are in fact, blessing the whole world in the Name of the risen Lord.  It is in a way praising God or rather lifting up His glorious name by way of an action.  The last commissioning of our Lord Jesus Christ is very relevant at this point, to go out into people everywhere and to make them His disciples by baptising and teaching them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit(Mat 28:19).  We are duty bound to comply with his commandments.    We see Abraham afterwards going to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron where he is seen building an altar for God. It is indicative of the necessity of our coming closer to the holy Altar throughout our life. The active and sincere participation in every service of the holy week takes us to a blissful experience, and helps us to lead a life of repentance and righteousness.

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